 The Alchemy Guild Bulletin is your source for breaking news on alchemy and alchemists with current announcements and latest info on classes, lectures, and events. | Edited by Paulette Harris. Published six times a year by the Alchemy Guild. Past issues are archived at AlchemyGuild.org. | | Autumn Equinox: September 22, 2013 at 4:44 P.M. EDT
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 Announcements
THE ALCHEMY MUSEUM AND LAB will be the first museum of its kind in the United States and the largest in the world. The museum will include a working Alchemy Laboratory with work stations for up to twelve students at a time. Classes on plant and mineral alchemy will be presented by visiting alchemists and herbalists. The Museum and Laboratory will be dedicated on the Summer Solstice 2015, and classes will begin the following month. Follow its development on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/alchemymuseum/
FORUM CHANGES In order to offer faster response and better monitoring of inquiries, the International Alchemy Guild is consolidating its public forums. A central public forum has been established on the Guild website at http://alchemyguild.memberlodge.org/forum Announcements, answers to inquiries, and financial statements will all be posted there. Private forums for members are still available in the online Members Lodge, and the Guild's Alchemy Study community can be found at http://www.Alchemergy.org The Yahoo Alchemy Guild Public Forum is being rededicated to alchemical research and discussions of both spiritual and practical alchemy and the Hermetic tradition in general. The Yahoo Guild forum, which was founded in 2001, is being renamed the Alchemists Forum. All current members, features, histories, and moderators of the old group have been preserved, and members can log in as usual. New members can join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alchemists_forum or simply send an email to alchemists_forum-subscribe@yahoogroups.com The Emerald Tablet Roundtable Forum has been archived to the Alchemy Study Forum. If you have links which point to these groups or an address book entry for the groups, you should update them, as the old addresses will no longer work.
ROSICRUCIAN DIGEST The new Rosicrucian Digest is out. It features an article on the Philosopher's Stone by Dennis William Hauck, as well as an audio recording of the complete article. The article may be downloaded at: http://www.rosicrucian.org/publications/digest/digest1_2013/table_of_contents.html
PAGAN PRIDE DAY As the Fall Equinox approaches, there are a number of celebrations around the country to commemorate Pagan Pride Day. Here is a partial list: Caribou, Maine, the First Northern Maine Pagan Pride Day, September 7, 2013 Salem, Oregon: September 7, 3013 Sevierville, Tennessee, September 13, 2013 Vancouver Island, September 15, 2013 Merriam, Kansas, September 15, 2013 White Rock Lake, Dallas, Texas, October 5, 2013 Normal, Illinois, October 12, 2013
 Chapter News
Mathew Ingalls, President of the Denver Chapter Alchemy Guild-Le Lion Rouge, announced a very successful Open House on August 24. Sixteen visitors were given information on the benefits of joining the Alchemy Guild and signing up for the Alchemy Study Program. Art Kompolt of AMORC spoke briefly about the process and benefits of learning The Great Work.
On the schedule of events for 2014 is a workshop/lecture with Robert and Karen Bartlett. KC Wilkerson of Astrology Alchemy will be lecturing, and several workshops are being planned using the materials from the Guild Archives to complete an elixir.
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| In This Issue: Spotlight On . . .
| | | |  From Our Readers
HONESTY in the GREAT WORK of ALCHEMY
by John H. Reid III, c. 2013
Honesty is a powerful Stone, transmuting the lead of error into the destined gold of truth.
One of the beautiful and most beneficial things about Spagyrics and Alchemy is that practical lab work quickly corrects all misapprehensions we formed during our preliminary speculation and contemplation of the Work. Aspirants of the Alchemical knowledge all too often become lost in the labyrinth of Alchemy's many apparently divergent paths. Some even go so far as to adopt a sort of “anything-goes” or “there-is-no-wrong-way” type of attitude. Quickly however, we discover that there are nuances in the Work that we missed in our reading (no matter how devote it may have been), either because of a lack of grounding which can only born from practical experience, or because we supplanted what was written with our own fancies and expectations. Either way, if we are honest with ourselves, our mistakes are quickly shown to us. The True Work then begins in understanding our matter and eliciting its arcanum.
Frater Albertus said that the process in both the lesser and greater circulation is basically not expensive. In fact, it is relatively insignificant. But before this state can be reached, much money, time, and effort can and most likely will be spent.
Learn and master all the aspects of the lesser circulation before trying to dive into the deep end of the pool. Thinking yourself ready to do mineral work when all you have produced is a handful of basic spagyric extracts and rudimentary solid products is akin to someone thinking themselves able to perform surgery after a cursory look at a book on anatomy. Patience is the watchword – patience and a constant tending of the fire in order to show Nature that you are willing to be a gentle and consistent consort. Remember this when you are looking at all the varied processes one will be confronted with when dealing with this noble art and divine science.
In the immortal words of Frater Albertus, "Since everything that grows comes from a seed, the fruit must be contained in its seed. Mark this well, for here lays the secret of creation. The raising of specimen, as said before, is the raising of vibrations. Herbs and animals, as well as minerals and metals, grow from seed. To understand this secret of nature, which is only partly revealed to humankind, constitutes the main theoretical subject in Alchemy. Once this is known, then only the proper understanding is necessary in order to obtain results in the raising or elevating of specimen, which is nothing else but transmutation. If we can help nature in her ultimate goal – that of bringing her products to an honest perfection – then we are in harmony with her laws.”
Frater also said “The aim laid down here is to help the alchemical aspirant on the laborious road. This road begins in the laboratory. Everything in the laboratory revolves around the fire or its emanation: heat.” Those three sentences condense a lot of food for thought. Yes, the alchemical path is trying and laborious. It is part of the armor that the art uses to protect itself, weeding out those who are only curious or looking for shortcuts to wealth. As stated in the first paragraph of this article, “practical lab work quickly corrects all misapprehensions we formed during our preliminary speculation and contemplation of the Work.” The Lab however, is not the only location where the Work is to take place. Since the whole Work of the laboratory revolves around heat or its emanation, we can also see that an internal control and understanding of our passions and desires is necessary. The Outer and Inner Work must be done in tandem for the aspirant to get any real benefit from the practice of Alchemy, and we must not forget that it is honesty which will inevitably and steadily guide us to the completion of these tandem Works.
Finally, Alchemy is about knowing, not mere belief. We must be able to prove that which we have postulated. In this regard, it makes no sense to go onto Internet forums and start speaking about one's alchemical speculations born form one's copious reading, soliciting others to do experimental work along one's lines of thought. Honesty requires us to prove reality, to prove what we know – not only for others but even more importantly for ourselves. This work of honest proof is not easy, and consequently not for everyone. As a rather busy Alchemist put it, “Alchemy is not egalitarian, it is an aristocracy born of sweat.” What good would it do to have another confirm one's speculations as that would still leave you in the position of believing and not knowing. Or as Frater has stated, “He who wishes to practice our Spagyric Work will have to do all the Work himself. How fortunate! How else could it be? How else can one appreciate the experience if he does not arrive at the crucial point of knowledge by his own individual efforts?”
Remember my friends: All things are derived from the One Only Thing. As the One Only Thing seeks to manifest Itself, It begins to Know Itself and manifest Itself in Truth. The manifestation of Truth is the definition of Honesty. To uncover the perfection hidden within our matter, to manifest and fix its purest truth. It is the most sublime emanation of Honesty which elicits the Alchemical Work from the hearts and minds of aspiring Men. Matter, Spirit, and Soul must all submit to the process of their purification, reunification, and exaltation. And what is this process but the Great Work itself – the unfolding of the highest Truth, the most exalted Form, the purest Honesty within our matter and within ourselves?
No legacy is so rich as honesty. William Shakespeare | | |  Did You Know?
According to Dennis William Hauck’s interpretation of the engraving Tabula Smaragdina, the Latin name for “Emerald Tablet,” there are five birds of spirit associated with each of the five planetary bodies. They are the Black Crow of Calcination (Saturn), the White Goose of Dissolution (Jupiter), the Rooster of Conjunction (Earth), the Pelican of Distillation (Venus), and the Phoenix of Coagulation (Sun).
Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent upon me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, its very atoms. Kahlil Gibran | | | | | |  Op Ed
THE MANY FACES OF EGO by Paulette Dager-Harris According to Webster, the definition of ego is:
1. the self especially as contrasted with another self or the world 2. a. egotism b. self-esteem 3. one of the three divisions of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory that serves as the organized conscious mediator between the person and reality especially functioning both in the perception of and adaptation to reality A necessary step in our process, whether our emphasis be in physical or spiritual alchemy, is learning about ego and how it can help or hinder the purity of our Work. Ego quite simply is a tool, a tool that allows us to integrate and process the experiences and insights that shape our thoughts and feelings. Originally Freud used the word ego to mean a sense of self, then later changed it to mean functions such as reality testing, judgment, control, defensiveness, integrating information and memory. A healthy, balanced ego serves to keep us physically safe and in allowance of clarity about the lessons we learn through our experiences, opening us to new ideas and experimentation that support personal growth and evolution. The pressures of modern society have overburdened the delicate balance of ego, and in its misguided efforts to protect us and keep us safe in a changing world, ego has become bruised for the many of us. The most obvious indication of a bruised ego is “bravado” and its false confidence. In its extreme is “bullying," which seems to be on the increase in our schools and workplaces. Bullying is an attempt to force ones ideas and viewpoints on others and its byproduct is one of disempowerment. For the most of us, ego can be quite clever and manipulative. It wants power over our free will. Its aim is to control. Here are some of ways ego can be the disempowering trickster. It keeps us from trying new things, being more comfortable staying stuck in old, familiar patterns. When we start to use our intuition, ego sends messages of doubt to thwart our progress. It causes us to “wallow” in, rather than let go of, painful memories and events, denying the ability to release those energies that no longer serve. Letting go allows for new awarenesses to flourish. It causes us to wait for forgiveness from another rather than to forgive self, thus learning to self-nurture. It keeps us in endless speculation rather than looking at the reality of “what is” so that we may responsibly problem-solve. It sends us messages to resist rather than embrace our emotions, interfering with melding the head and the heart in decision-making. It creates a fear of success far greater than the fear of failure, perpetuating “The Devil You Know.” Ego encourages us to seek the expectations and approval of others rather than ourselves; it lures us into comparing ourselves to others; it creates the fear of being different, thereby distracting us from attaining empowerment and accessing our higher will, or Divine Will, which is expansion, growth and evolution--or as we alchemists say, attaining the Stone.
The Wisdom of Humor 
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